BP urged to settle US claim (now that our election is over)...

[Indi Guy]

Source: The Telegraph (UK)

BP has been urged by leading investors to reach a settlement with the US government over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill now the presidential election is over.

Unless a deal can be reached with the Department of Justice over the 2010 spill, BP faces a high-profile and potentially lengthy trial in February. Analysts have speculated that the prospect of a settlement would be higher after the election given how politically contentious the spill was in the US...

...The call to avoid a trial comes after lawyers for BP last week urged a New Orleans judge to give final approval to the $7.8bn {billion} (£4.9bn) settlement it agreed in March with thousands of businesses and individuals hit by the worst offshore spill in US history.

Judge Carl Barbier, who will oversee the February trial if it goes ahead, said he will quickly make a final ruling on that settlement. Reaching a separate settlement with the US government may prove trickier. In September, US prosecutors accused BP of gross negligence over the spill – a charge that could push any fine up to $18bn.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/9669522/BP-urged-to-settle-US-claim.html

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Seems that BP's investors are highly intimidated by our current administration's prosecution of the spill. With Romney being very friendly to big oil, do you think they'd have the same sense of urgency?

[TomCADem]

1. CBS News - "Rep. Joe Barton Apologizes to BP's Tony Hayward for White House "Shakedown"

It is easy to forget the reason why the oil industry sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2012 election to support Republicans.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20008020-503544/rep-joe-barton-apologizes-to-bps-tony-hayward-for-white-house-shakedown-video-/

BP CEO Tony Hayward is in the midst of a harsh grilling today on Capitol Hill, where he is testifying House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on "The Role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill."

But not long after the hearing began, Hayward got something not many expected from lawmakers: An apology.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the committee, apologized to Hayward for what he described as a "shakedown" at the White House yesterday. He was referring to the deal worked out between the Obama administration and BP to set up a $20 billion fund administered by a third party to pay for damages from the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said. "I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case, a $20 billion shakedown."

[OnyxCollie]

2. I don't know if bp's investors are "intimidated."

More like unwilling to pay bigger bribes to Democrats over Republicans.

[dipsydoodle]

4. I suppose you do realise

that implicit in your statement is most of your large pension funds.

[SDjack]

3. BP gambled on making the settlement and lost.

BP's options were: 1) settle with Pres. Obama's Admin. before the election, 2) settle with Rmoney Admin., or 3) worst deal possible -- settle with Pres. Obama elected with a landslide. Once again, BP got it wrong.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. That 20 billion wont cover the actual harm and lasting damage

of that spill. Once again the people get short changed.

[Hotler]

6. There should be some prison time for

upper management and the CEO's